Satellite radiotelephone communications systems and methods are widely used for radiotelephone communications. Satellite radiotelephone communications systems and methods generally employ at least one space-based component, such as one or more satellites, that is/are configured to wirelessly communicate with a plurality of satellite radiotelephones.
A satellite radiotelephone communications system or method may utilize a single antenna pattern (beam) covering an entire area served by the system. Alternatively, in cellular satellite radiotelephone communications systems and methods, multiple antenna patterns (beams or cells) are provided, each of which can serve substantially distinct geographical areas in the overall service region, to collectively serve an overall satellite footprint. Thus, a cellular architecture similar to that used in conventional terrestrial cellular radiotelephone systems and methods can be implemented in cellular satellite-based systems and methods. The satellite typically communicates with radiotelephones over a bidirectional communications pathway, with radiotelephone communications signals being communicated from the satellite to the radiotelephone over a downlink or forward link, and from the radiotelephone to the satellite over an uplink or return link.
The overall design and operation of cellular satellite radiotelephone systems and methods are well known to those having skill in the art, and need not be described further herein. Moreover, as used herein, the term “radiotelephone” includes cellular and/or satellite radiotelephones with or without a multi-line display; Personal Communications System (PCS) terminals that may combine a radiotelephone with data processing, facsimile and/or data communications capabilities; Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) that can include a radio frequency transceiver and/or a pager, Internet/Intranet access, Web browser, organizer, calendar and/or a global positioning system (GPS) receiver; and/or conventional laptop and/or palmtop computers or other appliances, which include a radio frequency transceiver. A radiotelephone also may be referred to herein as a “radioterminal”, a “wireless terminal” or simply as a “terminal”. As used herein, the term(s) “radiotelephone”, “radioterminal”, “wireless terminal” and/or “terminal” also include(s) any other radiating user device/equipment/source that may have time-varying or fixed geographic coordinates and/or may be portable, transportable, installed in a vehicle (aeronautical, maritime, or land-based) and/or situated and/or configured to operate locally and/or in a distributed fashion over one or more terrestrial and/or extra-terrestrial location(s).
Terrestrial networks can enhance cellular satellite radiotelephone system availability, efficiency and/or economic viability by terrestrially using at least some of the frequency bands that are allocated to cellular satellite radiotelephone systems. In particular, it is known that it may be difficult for cellular satellite radiotelephone systems to reliably serve densely populated areas, because the satellite signal may be blocked by high-rise structures and/or may not penetrate into buildings. As a result, the satellite spectrum may be underutilized or unutilized in such areas. The terrestrial use of at least some of the satellite system frequencies can reduce or eliminate this potential problem.
Moreover, the capacity of the overall system may be increased by the introduction of terrestrial frequency use of the satellite system frequencies, since terrestrial frequency use may be much denser than that of a satellite-only system. In fact, capacity may be enhanced where it may be mostly needed, i.e., in densely populated urban/industrial/commercial areas. As a result, the overall system may become more economically viable, as it may be able to serve more effectively and reliably a larger subscriber base.
One example of terrestrial use of satellite frequencies is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,332 to the present inventor Karabinis entitled Satellite Telecommunications Repeaters and Retransmission Methods, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety as if set forth fully herein. As described therein, satellite telecommunications repeaters are provided which receive, amplify, and locally retransmit the downlink signal received from a satellite thereby increasing the effective downlink margin in the vicinity of the satellite telecommunications repeaters and allowing an increase in the penetration of uplink and downlink signals into buildings, foliage, transportation vehicles, and other objects which can reduce link margin. Both portable and non-portable repeaters are provided. See the abstract of U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,332.
Satellite radiotelephones for a satellite radiotelephone system or method having a terrestrial communications capability by terrestrially using at least some of the same satellite frequency band and using substantially the same air interface for both terrestrial and satellite communications may be cost effective and/or aesthetically appealing. Conventional dual band/dual mode radiotelephone alternatives, such as the well known Thuraya, Iridium and/or Globalstar dual mode satellite/terrestrial radiotelephones, duplicate some components (as a result of the different frequency bands and/or air interface protocols between satellite and terrestrial communications), which leads to increased cost, size and/or weight of the radiotelephone. See U.S. Pat. No. 6,052,560 to the present inventor Karabinis, entitled Satellite System Utilizing a Plurality of Air Interface Standards and Method Employing Same.
Satellite radioterminal communications systems and methods that may employ terrestrial use of satellite frequencies are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,684,057 to Karabinis, entitled Systems and Methods for Terrestrial Reuse of Cellular Satellite Frequency Spectrum; 6,785,543 to Karabinis, entitled Filters for Combined Radiotelephone/GPS Terminals; 6,856,787 to Karabinis, entitled Wireless Communications Systems and Methods Using Satellite-Linked Remote Terminal Interface Subsystems; 6,859,652 to Karabinis et al., entitled Integrated or Autonomous System and Method of Satellite-Terrestrial Frequency Reuse Using Signal Attenuation and/or Blockage, Dynamic Assignment of Frequencies and/or Hysteresis; and 6,879,829 to Dutta et al., entitled Systems and Methods for Handover Between Space Based and Terrestrial Radioterminal Communications, and For Monitoring Terrestrially Reused Satellite Frequencies At a Radioterminal to Reduce Potential Interference; and Published U.S. Patent Application Nos. US 2003/0054761 to Karabinis, entitled Spatial Guardbands for Terrestrial Reuse of Satellite Frequencies; US 2003/0054814 to Karabinis et al., entitled Systems and Methods for Monitoring Terrestrially Reused Satellite Frequencies to Reduce Potential Interference; US 2003/0073436 to Karabinis et al., entitled Additional Systems and Methods for Monitoring Terrestrially Reused Satellite Frequencies to Reduce Potential Interference; US 2003/0054762 to Karabinis, entitled Multi-Band/Multi-Mode Satellite Radiotelephone Communications Systems and Methods; US 2003/0224785 to Karabinis, entitled Systems and Methods for Reducing Satellite Feeder Link Bandwidth/Carriers In Cellular Satellite Systems; US 2002/0041575 to Karabinis et al., entitled Coordinated Satellite-Terrestrial Frequency Reuse; US 2003/0068978 to Karabinis et al., entitled Space-Based Network Architectures for Satellite Radiotelephone Systems; US 2003/0153308 to Karabinis, entitled Staggered Sectorization for Terrestrial Reuse of Satellite Frequencies; and US 2003/0054815 to Karabinis, entitled Methods and Systems for Modifying Satellite Antenna Cell Patterns In Response to Terrestrial Reuse of Satellite Frequencies, all of which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention, the disclosures of all of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety as if set forth fully herein.
Some satellite radiotelephone systems and methods may employ interference cancellation techniques to allow terrestrial use of satellite frequencies. For example, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,684,057 to Karabinis, cited above, a satellite radiotelephone frequency can be reused terrestrially by an ancillary terrestrial network even within the same satellite cell, using interference cancellation techniques. Moreover, the ancillary terrestrial network can use a modified range of satellite band forward link frequencies for transmission, to reduce interference with out-of-band receivers. A modified range of satellite band forward link frequencies that is used by the ancillary terrestrial network can include only a subset of the standard satellite band forward link frequencies to provide a guard band, can include power levels that monotonically decrease as a function of increasing frequency and/or can include two or more contiguous slots per frame that are left unoccupied and/or are transmitted at reduced maximum power. Time division duplex operation of the ancillary terrestrial network may also be provided over at least a portion of satellite band return frequencies. Full or partial reverse mode operation of the ancillary terrestrial network also may be provided, where at least some of the forward link and return link frequencies are interchanged with the conventional satellite forward link and reverse link frequencies. See the Abstract of U.S. Pat. No. 6,684,057.
Other radiotelephone systems and methods can monitor terrestrial use of satellite-band frequencies to reduce potential interference. For example, as described in Published U.S. Patent Application No. US 2003/0054814 A1, cited above, radiation by an ancillary terrestrial network, and/or satellite radiotelephones that communicate therewith are monitored and controlled, to reduce and preferably prevent intra-system interference and/or interference with other satellite radiotelephone systems. In particular, a satellite radiotelephone system includes a space-based component that is configured to wirelessly communicate with first radiotelephones in a satellite footprint over a satellite radiotelephone frequency band, and an ancillary terrestrial network that is configured to wirelessly communicate with second radiotelephones in the satellite footprint over at least some of the satellite radiotelephone frequency band, to thereby terrestrially reuse the at least some of the satellite radiotelephone frequency band. Wireless radiation by the ancillary terrestrial network and/or the second radiotelephones at the space-based component is monitored, and the radiation by the ancillary terrestrial network and/or the plurality of second radiotelephones is adjusted in response to the monitoring. Intra-system interference and/or interference with other satellite systems thereby may be reduced or prevented. See the Abstract of U.S. Published Patent Application US 2003/0054814 A1.
Finally, additional systems and methods may be used to monitor terrestrially used satellite frequencies to reduce potential interference. For example, as described in Published U.S. Patent Application No. US 2003/0073436 A1, cited above, a satellite radiotelephone system includes a space-based component, an ancillary terrestrial network, a monitor and a controller. The space-based component is configured to wirelessly communicate with radiotelephones in a satellite footprint over a satellite radiotelephone frequency band. The satellite footprint is divided into satellite cells in which subsets of the satellite radiotelephone frequency band are spatially reused in a spatial reuse pattern. The ancillary terrestrial network is configured to wirelessly communicate with radiotelephones in the satellite footprint over at least some of the satellite radiotelephone frequency band, to thereby terrestrially reuse the at least some of the satellite radiotelephone frequency band. The monitor is configured to monitor wireless radiation at the space-based component that is produced by the ancillary terrestrial network and/or the radiotelephones in satellite cells that adjoin a satellite cell and/or in the satellite cell, in at least part of the subset of the satellite radiotelephone frequency band that is assigned to the satellite cell for space-based component communications. The controller is configured to adjust the radiation by the ancillary terrestrial network and/or the radiotelephones, in response to the monitor. See the Abstract of U.S. Published Patent Application U.S. 2003/0073436 A1.